Why We Advocate

It’s clear that traumatic injury takes an extraordinarily heavy toll across our society, following cancer and heart disease as the third most expensive category of medical treatment. Yet, relative to the research support provided for other conditions, trauma remains considerably underfunded. Despite 50 years of reporting on the consequences of underfunding, Trauma remains a major public health problem without a consistent research funding mechanism.

NIH Funding for Medical Conditions Relative to their Disease Burden

We know that federal funding for research makes a difference. Consider the investment made in HIV/AIDS. Once considered a death sentence, HIV/AIDS now claims fewer than 6,730 Americans Americans a year—largely due to education and new drug therapies developed over more than 20 years of federal research investment.